Means to deposit water-borne sand



Patented Oct. 20, 1953 UNITED STAT E S ATENT' OFF 1 6E S T DEPOSITWATER-BORNES'AND James R. Daley, Amherst, Ohio Application November 12,1952, Serial No; 3191971 Claims. 1

This. invention relatesto meansfor depositing water-borne sand for theprotection of, beaches and banks fromerosion- The problem oi protecting:beaches; and banks from erosion by waves and currents. is one of longstanding. Many attemptsxhavebeen. made to protect such beaches but; the;only complete success which. has heretofore been; obtainedhas been by:the. construction of heavy, massive; masonry breakwallst have been madeto create protective sandbars by-placing barriers-in the path of thewaves to slow up the water and cause the deposition of sand; Thesebarriers. have generally been. unsuccessful because. the water tends toscour out and undermine the foundations of" the barriers, causing themto topple over and lose their! effec tiveness. Yet experience has: shownthat av natural sandbar provides the best protection against thedestructive effects of the waves. For

example, long stretches of the Massachusetts shore are protected bylarge natural sand bars standing Well out from the shore which cause thewaves to break and lose their force before they can drive onto thebeaches and destroy them.

The object of the present invention therefore is to provide economicaland effective means of producing such sand bars for the protection ofbeaches and the banks of streams which are subject to erosion.

Another object is to provide means for creating sand bars which takesthe form of a permeable barrier permitting water to flow through it withequal ease in both directions.

Another object is to provide a barrier for creating sand bars which iseconomical to manufacture and which is easy to install in the desiredlocations, and which is readily adaptable to varying water depths andlocal current conditions.

Further objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from thefollowing description of a preferred form of the invention, referencebein had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of apparatus comprising a plurality ofvanes embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of one of the vanesof Figure 1, illustrating in dotted lines the manner in which the vanesare free to bend;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale showing one of thevanes of the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan View showing diagrammatically a number of units, suchas shown in Figure In some: cases attempts 21'. arranged. in apatterrreffective for: use; and

Figure 5 is a plan View showing diagrammatically another. arrangement ofaplurality or units such as shown in Figure. 1.

The invention takes the form: of permeable barrier which permits thewater topass through the barrier with equal ease in both directions sothat a sand bar will be built upon bothsides of the barrier, The: flowofthewat'er through the barrier is directed-Liupwardly-to preventanyscouring action whichusu'ally occurs entheshore side of the prior art:barriers, The upward fiow of water causesit torlose'velocity and toidropits suspended sa'nd; and graveladiac'ent: the barrier; Eventually thebarrier is: completely buried by the formation of the sand bar;

A preferred form of the inventionscernprises a base l-Cihavingtapluralilty or": upright; supports 11: which: are adapted tosupport. a. plurality of parallel vanes i2. For convenience, the portionof the apparatus, including a pair of adjacent uprights, together withthe vanes extending between them, will be referred to as a unit. It isto be understood that as many units, each comprising as many vanes asare necessary, may be employed to provide the desired protection. Forexample, in Figure 4, four such units, each referred to as l5, arealigned to form the main protective barrier and an additional four unitsextend in pairs, as shown, each end of the main barrier, acting in amanner to stabilize the ends of the sand bar which is formed. Anotherarrangement is shown in Figure 5 but in this case only two units areshown at each end of the main portion. It will be apparent that theseare only two of the possible arrangements of units embodying theinvention. Both of the examples illustrated have proved successful butthe final disposition of the units will in large part be dictated by theactual conditions of the water and currents which are encountered.

Each vane I2 comprises a flexible strip it of rubber, plastic or thelike which is mounted along its lower edge in a longitudinally extendingU-shaped metal clamp ll. If desired, the U- section I! may be reinforcedwith an angle iron, not shown. The strip may be held within the strip I!merely by clamping pressure alone but, if desired, rivets or otherfasteners may be used. The vanes l2 are secured to the uprights II bybolts or rivets I8 extending through the clamping strips I! and throughthe flanges of the uprights, which, in this particular example, take theform of angle irons. With this manner of mounting, the vanes are free toflex and bend 3 about the metal strips H as a hinge point. This flexingor yielding action permits water to pass readily through the barrier andat the same time impedes the water sufiiciently to cause any sand whichis suspended in the water to be deposited adjacent the base of the unit.

One of the features of the invention is that, by virtue of the vanesbeing hinged about their lower edges, the water passing through thebarrier, in either direction, is directed upwardly away from the base ofthe apparatus. This deflection of the water upwardly prevents anyscouring action which might otherwise undermine the base. Anotheradvantage in having the vanes hinged at their lower edges is that a vanewill continue to be flexible even though half buried in sand, whereasvanes hinged at their top edges become locked in place as soon as thebottom edge is buried. With the present invention each vane continues tofunction effectively until it is virtually completely buried.

In some cases it may be desirable to slit the flexible portions of thevanes vertically at intervals so as to give the vanes more freedom toflex and permit water to pass through. Such slits are indicated at 20 inthe vanes of Figure 1.

The base It is shown in the present example as being of solid sheetmetal. It may, however, take the form of a heavy screen or in some casesmay merely comprise bars extending transversely to the uprights. Theuprights, if necessary, may be braced as by the members 2|, but againthe manner of bracing is a matter of choice. Only six vanes are shown inthe present example, but it will be apparent that the uprights may beextended and as many vanes as are necessary may be added.

Further modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention,the essential features of which are summarized in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A barrier adapted to be positioned in the path of moving water toprotect shores from erosion, comprising a support, a plurality ofhorizontal, parallel vanes of flexible material mounted on said support,said vanes having fixed bottom edges, and top edges free to move ineither direction by flexing of the vanes, whereby water passing betweensaid vanes will be directed upwardly and slowed in velocity to depositsand adjacent the base of said vanes.

2. A barrier according to claim 1 in which said vanes comprise strips offlexible rubber-like material mounted along their bottom edges onrelatively rigid metal supporting strips.

3. A barrier according to claim 2 in which said metal strips are securedto spaced upright supporting members secured to a base of substantialarea.

4. A barrier according to claim 3 in which said vanes are slitvertically at intervals between said uprights from said free upper edgesdownwardly toward the said bottom edges.

5. A barrier according to claim 2 in which said metal strips aresubstantially U-shaped in section with the legs thereof clamping thefaces of the strips immediately adjacent the bottom edges therebetween.

JAMES R. DALEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 278,975 Koon June 5, 1883 2,185,458 Giliasso Jan. 2, 1940

